Just to recap, I was diagnosed in early December 2010 and have been in a clinical trial with Velcade, Revlimid and decadron since mid-January. I'm now halfway done with the trial (just finished Cycle 4)--there was about a month's break while I did a stem cell harvest, which went very well.
Now that I'm a bit farther along in treatment I'm getting a better idea of how the disease is affecting me specifically. My doctor says the protein levels he tracks are "practically at zero." All of my other blood work is good/normal; no vital organs have been affected, kidney function is normal, etc. I've had one bone marrow biopsy so far, prior to starting treatment, and it came back at about 15%; I won't have another one until I'm done with the trial. I have no abnormal genetic markers.
My doctor told me at my last visit that it appears that in my case the multiple myeloma is primarily affecting the bones. The main ones they are looking at are my two thigh bones and the two upper arms and shoulders. I saw the orthopedic oncologist last week and we looked at my latest X-rays. The two thigh bones and one arm look very good, with just a few "tiny" spots of lesions. The one she's still concerned about, which was the arm that initially caused the pain that ultimately led to the diagnosis, is the right. There are still some fairly large lesions there. However, nothing has gotten worse since I started treatment, and the doctor said she believes that when I come again in 3 months there will be more signs of improvement. She said bone takes a long time to heal. In the meantime it does feel less achy than it did back in the fall. I'm still not supposed to lift anything heavier than 5 lbs and of course must try to avoid falling, but she doesn't think I'm in immediate need of surgery or of fracture.
I gather that the hope is that the combination of drugs I'm taking in the trial, plus the Zometa infusions I'm getting, will work against the tumors in the bones and help eradicate them. I'm wondering if any of you are in a similar situation? Has there been good success at treating these bone lesions with these drugs? I guess all I can do is wait and hope that the next round of X-rays and my next biopsy show a response. I don't know why, but I had been more focused on my blood work , proteins, chromosomes, etc., and apparently I should have been worrying more about my bones
Karen
